Michael Kirby, former chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, is seen in this October 2009 file photo. The Kirby Report co-author helped shape Canada's first-ever mental health strategy.

Photograph by: Christina Ryan
, Calgary Herald

The nation's first mental-health strategy is calling for an overhaul of a system it calls so fractured and under-funded that it's turning prisons and jails into the "asylums of the 21st century" and leading many community service groups to drop waiting lists to avoid giving people false hope that "eventually their turn will come."

The strategy from the Mental Health Commission of Canada calls for spending on mental health to increase from seven to nine per cent of total health spending over 10 years, an increase of $3-4 billion. According to the commission, the economic impact of mental illness on Canada's economy is "enormous" — at least $50 billion annually.

The strategy's 109 recommendations include:

- Creating mentally healthy workplaces (an estimated $6 billion is lost every year due to absenteeism and "presenteeism," meaning people who go to work sick, commission staff said);

- More community and school-based mental illness prevention programs targeted at children and youth, especially those most at risk because of poverty, having a parent with a mental-health or addiction problem or family violence, and more support for parents and caregivers;

- Shifting policies and practices toward a "recovery and well being" model;

- More screening for mental-health problems and suicide risk, and more support for groups with high overall suicide rates, including older men, First Nations and Inuit youth, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. According to the commission, of the 4,000 Canadians who die from suicide each year, the majority were suffering from a mental illness;

- Stopping disclosure in police record checks of instances when police uses provisions of a Mental Health Act to apprehend a person who is in crisis — information that can be disclosed even when no offence has been committed and no charges laid, making it difficult for people to volunteer or get a job, and;

- More "diversion programs," including mental-health courts and restorative justice programs to keep people living with mental-health illnesses out of prison.

"People living with mental-health problems and illnesses — whatever their age and however severe their mental-health problems or illness — and their families should be able to count on timely access to the full range of options for mental-health services, treatments and supports, just as they would expect if they were confronting heart disease or cancer," states the strategy, Changing Directions, Changing Lives.

The mental-health commission was born from the groundbreaking 2006 Senate committee report Out of the Shadows at Last — the most exhaustive study of mental health in the nation's history.

The strategy calls for more efforts aimed at defeating the stigma "that has blighted people's attitudes for far too long and has fed the discrimination that so many have endure."

Children and youth are among the focus. Studies suggest 70 per cent of all mental illness has its onset in childhood or adolescence.

In the last two years alone, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of crisis visits to its emergency department.

"The current system is not equipped to handle this surge," Alex Munter, the hospital's chief executive officer, said in a statement. "As a society, we need to do things differently, invest differently, and organize differently."

Former mental health commissioner Michael Kirby said that mental health needs a social movement as powerful as the breast-cancer movement.

"Look where we are — we're at the point where my grandkids all know what the pink ribbon stands for," Kirby, co-author of the senate report on mental health, told Postmedia News. Money has poured into breast cancer research and services, he said, "Because there were a whole pile of Canadians who got together and organized under the social movement of the breast cancer societies to say, 'we've really got to do something.'

By contrast, "There has never been in Canada any organization that was able to show that thousands of Canadians across the country really want in this case mental health, treated seriously," he said.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.